1)
Why did you choose crime as a background to your writing? |
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I have written in many styles, among them Bizarro and satire, but I am best known for my crime and horror fiction. One of the reasons I write about crime is because it is not clear cut. There are so many ways a normal person can slip over in committing a criminal act. That is a Noir issue. The characters in ‘One Lost Summer’ are not criminals, but they are corrupted. |
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2)
Where did the idea for ‘One Last Summer’ come from? |
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Ideas are hard to trace. It may have to do with the lousy summer we had in England last year. ‘One Lost Summer’ is set in a heat wave with glorious descriptions of summer throughout. I was also thinking about the fact that we live in an age of surveillance. That watchfulness plays a big part in the novel as Rex Allen places his beautiful neighbour Evangeline Glass under his own form of surveillance. |
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3)
‘One Lost Summer’ deals with some very dark themes such as obsession, loss and blackmail. How did you research these topics? |
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Much research can be done by observing people! |
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4)
With ‘One Lost Summer’ you really draw back the curtains and expose what may or may not go on behind the closed doors of middle-class suburbia. Does this come from a sense of voyeuristic inquisitiveness? |
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No. I think we live in a voyeuristic age, a theme I explored in ‘Mr. Glamour’. |
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5)
Have you encountered anyone with the kind of strong obsession which possesses Rex? |
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You see them every day. I think humanity is an obsessive animal. |
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6)
Your writing is pretty eclectic, yet there is a sense of darkness within each of the short stories and novels I’ve read. Is this deliberate or is it a by-product of your writing? |
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It’s to do with drawing a portrait. I think it is part of a chiaroscuro effect. |
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7)
You are widely published in various short story anthologies as well as having three novels out. Which medium do you prefer writing, short stories or novels? |
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I like both forms. Short stories are quite different in structure and approach, but I also think writing both is a useful form of cross-fertilisation. |
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8)
Your three novels to date have been standalones. Do you have any plans to write a series? |
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I am writing the sequel to ‘Apostle Rising’. That was my first novel, in which a serial killer is crucifying politicians, it did extremely well, selling foreign rights throughout Europe and continuing to do so. |
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9)
What are you currently working on? |
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I have been contracted by an Italian publisher, Atlantis, to write a mini-series and a novel for Christmas. It takes place in various European cities, with an emphasis on the crime of each city and with a Noir feel. Both the series and novel will be published in English and Italian. |
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10)
Which three crime novels have made a lasting impression on you? |
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There are so many. If I had to pick three I would say:
‘Heaven’s Prisoners’ by James Lee Burke for its sheer lyrical beauty and depth, Burke is the greatest stylist in crime fiction.
‘Freaky Deaky’ by Elmore Leonard for its brilliance as a story, Leonard is the most disciplined crime writer out there, never a loose line or indulgent passage.
‘The Friends Of Eddie Coyle’ by George V. Higgins for its seminal use of dialogue and ground-breaking approach.
And I must add a fourth, ‘Dead City’ by Shane Stevens, for its extreme reality by an author who is almost unknown. |
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